Woods admits to lying about open relationship, location of makeup bag

David Woods was once again in the witness box Tuesday morning, this time to face cross examination in his first-degree murder trial.

He's accused of killing his wife Dorothy in November, 2011 and then hiding her body in a culvert near Blackstrap Lake.

Woods admitted to lying to police repeatedly in the days after his wife's disappearance.

He told police he believed his wife had left the house with a makeup bag, when he had thrown it into a garbage can in the backyard.

As well, Woods told police Dorothy had a number of credit cards, when in fact he had placed them in a locked toolbox in the garage.

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Woods also didn't tell police he and his wife had entered into an 'open relationship' in April of 2011.

"You were deliberately lying on multiple occasions to the very people who might be able to locate Dorothy," said crown prosecutor Michael Segu.

"They were just playing me," Woods responded. "They weren't trying to help me."

Familiar with area

Prosecutor Michael Segu asked Woods if he was familiar with the area south of Saskatoon where Dorothy's body was found. Woods said he hunted deer and had friends who had an acreage in the area.

The Crown is challenging Woods' claim that he and his wife Dorothy agreed to let each other have sex with other people.

Woods was asked by the prosecutor about the open marriage he said he started in 2011. He told the court that the rules were to not flaunt the relationship and to keep it quiet.

The prosecutor asked Woods why he sent Dorothy's boyfriend threatening texts while in an open relationship. Woods said he was angry because his wife was leaving condom wrappers in one of their trucks.

"She wasn't being discreet," he said.

Under cross-examination, Woods admitted to bringing a prostitute to his house three weeks after Dorothy's disappearance. The prosecutor says Woods felt comfortable bringing a prostitute home because he knew his wife wouldn't be coming back. Woods said, no.

Addressing the Crown's case

David Woods took the stand Monday in his first-degree murder trial. Woods answered questions from his lawyer, Michael Nolin.

Woods talked about his disintegrating marriage. Prosecutors had highlighted how Dorothy Woods had multiple affairs in the months leading up to her disappearance, suggesting that these liaisons motivated her husband to kill her.

But David Woods said that he and Dorothy had agreed months earlier, in April, 2011, that they could see other people. The only condition was that both would show discretion and not let their respective families know about the arrangement.

He said that he delayed reporting Dorothy missing because he thought she was off with one of her lovers, and at that point he didn't care.

A mysterious note

Two months after Dorothy disappeared, David Woods took a drive to Blackstrap Lake after local media reported that a body had been found outside the city. He didn't know that police had placed a GPS tracker on his truck.

That trip led police to his wife's body.

On the stand, he testified he had gone out to lunch that day with his brother and his children and when he came outside there was a note on his truck windshield. The note directed him to take a drive south on Highway 11, and that he would find information concerning his missing wife.

He said that it alarmed him, but he was curious.

Woods no longer has the note.

CBC's David Shield and Kathy Fitzpatrick are covering the story. Follow his tweets live from the courtroom.